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J
The College News
VOL. XIX, No. 4
BRYN MAWR AND WAYNE, PA., WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER, 1932
PRICE 10 CENTS
Folk Songs Grow From
Communal Authorship
Pr. � Vaughan Williams Says
Oral Changes Improve
Folk Music
SINGERS WERE ARTISTS
Dr. Ralph VaUghan Williams gave
his third Flexner lecture in Goodhart
Hall) Thursday evening, November 11.
Describing folk music as an "individ-
ual (lowering on a common stem,"
he discussed the communal author-
ship of folk song and its appeal for
modern listeners.
Before taking up any new topics,
Dr. Williams clarified his remarks of
the previous week on the origin of
music, and explained that he was
^Bot attempting to advance any theo-
tles on this difficult subject. Although
refusing to trace the origin of music
to excited speech, he described the
raw material of song as the independ-
ent tones of the speaking voice merg-
ing into definite sounds.
The most important of the limita-
tions naturally inherent in folk mu-
sic, he then declared, is the fact that
orignally it was never committed to
writing, but handed down orally from
generation to generation. Alterations
of written works are apt to cause
careless mistakes, but oral changes are
likely to be improvements. Hence folk
songs went through a process of evo-
lution from generation to generation.
And so we have the theory of com-
munal authorship.
The evolution of folk songs is a pro-
cess not of disintegration and cor-
ruption, but of growth and develop-
ment. Art music is the work of an
individual, composed in a compara-
tively short period, committed to pa-
per, and so fixed. Folk songs, on the
� other hand, are products of the race,
and reflect feelings and tastes which
are communal rather than personal.
The idea of communal authorship
is not a new one. The philologist
Grimm remarked that "Folk song
composes itself." Cecil Sharpe, how-
ever, was the first to take a fully
thought-out stand upon the subject.
According to him, one man might in-
vent a song by piecing together odd
phrases, but the constant changes
made in the process of passing it on
from one singer to another would
transfer the authorship to the com-
munity. Every ballad singer was an
artist, free to change what he dis-
liked. Although some had alterations
made, by natural selection, only those
changes would survive oral repetition,
which made the tune more .vital.
This gradual oral improvement of folk
song is similar to the evolution of a
theme in the mind of a great com-
poser. In Beethoven's notebooks it is
possible to trace his themes from their
inchoate beginnings to their final
masterly form. But even the most
individualistic of composers must
learn frOm his predecessors, and prof-
it by their experience. Hence, in a
sense, even art music shows communal
authorship.
Folk songs today have more than
a mere antiquarian interest for music
lovers. Having been recorded by col-
lectors, they are no longer in a state
of flux, and the exclusive property of
I he peasantry, but have become an in-
tegral part of composed music. They
are not dead, but in a newjjiage of
development. Twenty years ago, the
great folk song revival initiated in
England by Cecil Sharpe gave to the
public a wealth of new melody which
aroused an immediate enthusiasm.
For the many average people who are
dissatisfied with banalities and yet do
not care for classical music, the popu-
larity of folk song affords an oppor-
tunity to bring music into the home
again, as in Elizabethan times.
Although it is natural for men to
express themselves by music, English
speaking peoples, not realizing that
culture must grow out of the soil in
which it is planted, are inclined to
stifle their own artistic impulses.
America, for instance, has all the
means for developing an interesting
fc. ^S*' ..<-CQo"""ed on rage Four) -_^
COLLEGE CALENDAR
Wednesday, November !)�Dr.
Vaughan Williams on "Nation-
alism in Music."
Saturday, November 12�
Bryn Mawr Varsity vs. Swarth
more College in hockey, K).(M)
A. M.
Saturday, November 12�Sen
Utt, Reception for Freshmen.
Y.30 P. M.
Sunday, November 13�Chap
el. The Rev. Henry P. Van
Dusen will speak.
Monday, November 14�Bryn
Mawr Seconds vs. Manheim in
hockey, 4.00 P. M.
Monday, November 14�Var-
sity Dramatic try-outs in Good-
hart.
Tuesday, November 15�Var-
sity Dramatic try-outs in Good-
hart.
Wednesday, November 16�
Dr^ Vaughan Williams on "Na-
tionalism in Music."
Rufus Jones Describes
Conditions in China
Clever Junior Skit Given
at Banner Night Ceremony
"Mr. King Comes to the Faculty,"
the Junior skit on Banner Night,
November 3, was presented before an
unprecedentedly large and enthusias-
tic audience. The inspiration of the
drama was Mr. Samuel Arthur King's
diction class for the faculty, echoes
of which may still be heard around
the campus. Cheers thundered as
each member of the cast entered, Mr.
King last of all but Miss G. G. King
and Dr. Fenwick. When the roll was
called, it was discovered that several
of the class were absent, Miss Park
being prominent among those who
"were taking a cut.".
During the Shakespeare readings
which followed, rendered in an accent-
ually accurate manner by each mem-
i r of the cast, there were several
uncalled-for remarks from the class
at large; one. a sever:' stricture pass-
ed by M'ss King on "the lust of the
flesh and the pride of. the eye;" an-
other,-a colleague-quelling blast, from
Dr. Weiss that "All men arc mortal.
Socrates is a man. Therefore Socra-
tes is mortal." There was further
sorrow in store for Mr. King when
Dr. Fenwick insisted on reciting the
'icltysburg Address instead of the re-
quired reading in Shakespeare.
The most hilarious moment of the
evening came when Mr. King demon-
strated the witches' speech from Mac-
beth to Dr. Weiss, illustrating the
"like a rat without a tail" line by
& graceful buck-and-wing step. The
class came all too soon to an end
when Mrs. Manning coughed and Mr.
King announced that he would have
to leave if the coughing continued.
Immediately the class broke up to the
�round of hacking coughs.
After the encore, in response to
frenzied clapping, the Gym was clear-
ed of the "Odds," to allow the pres-
entation of a banner to the Freshman
Class by their sisters, the Juniors.
There were the usual songs expres-
sive of good will, the handling of the
banner, and then a new song from
the Freshmen, "Under Bryn Mawr
Arches." We wish to compliment the
Class of '36, both on its singing and
its new song, which was less strong-
ly reminiscent of something we had
heard before than any of the other
��lass songs. The unusual singing
strength manifested by both Juniors
and Freshmen was doubtless due to
the initiative of the skit manager,
Nancy Stevenson, in shifting Buh-
ner Night from a week-end to a
week-night; we would advocate tha*
the change be made permanent that
the success of this year may be re-
peated.
ENGAGEMENTS
Agnes Armstrortg Howe]],
Bryn Mawr, 1930, is engaged
to Barton Lee Mallory, Jr., of
Memphis, Tenn.
Elizabeth Poultney Pleasants,
Bryn Mawr, 1932, is engaged to
Francis Haynes Jencks, of Bal-
timore, Maryland.
--------.' �-L-!-V% v1 ----------t-
Political and Scientific Upheav-
als Render Church Work
Difficult
MISSIONS MUST UNITE
"Life goes on in China no matter
what happens," said Dr. Rufus M.
Jones in the Music Room, Tuesday
night, November 1, in his address
on the general situation existing in
China today. Dr. Jones has just re-
turned from two years in the Orient,
where he has been engaged in an in-
vestigation of the different Church
Missions in Japan, Burma, and India,
as a member of a committee of fif-
teen. Laymen from seven different
denominations selected impartial peo-
ple to make up this committee, and
sent them out td draw up a report of
the actual conditions in this field. It
is an additional interesting fact that
the recently finished report has been
selected as the Religious "Book of the
Month."
A large part of the work of the
committee was done during *he trying
months of the Manchurian struggle.
Dr. Jones, with his wife and daugh-
ter, lived on the river in Shanghai
last February during the bombard-
ment. They soon discovered that the
committee's investigation could go on
quite unhampered by the maelstrom
of war because, "due to lack of or-
ganization in China, one .region did
not feel the suffering of another." The
method of attack used by the commit-
tee was somewhat as follows: In a
given city, a group of prominent Chi-
nese officials would be entertained at
dinner, but remunerative results were
not usually forthcoming, because these
nun refused to commit themselves
very seriously before each other. A
second set of dinner invitations would
then be sent out to the most intelli-
gent missionaries in the vicinity. Fin-
ally, after the committee had thus met
and appraised the outstanding men
in the community, one or two would
be chosen for private discussions. The
problems taken up at these confer-
ences dealt with matters lying in any
one of six major fields of investiga-
tion, the Church in the mission field,
the universities, the medical work, the
agriculture and rural life, women's
problems, and the social and indus-
trial'difficulties to be met in the Orient
in this modern era.
The committee reports that the
present distressing situation in China
is due largely to over-population and
the atmsophere of rebellion�political,
scientific, and religious. There � art-
some four hundred million people in
China with its total area of four mil-
lion square miles.
One political revoluton follows an-
other, each proposing to overthrow
an old and corrupt government and
^o unify the provinces. A well-or-
ganized, centralized government seems
impossible at present because of the
scarcity of motor roads, the bare eight
thousand miles of railroad for such
a vast country, and the constant skir-
mishes between the bandits and rival
warlords. The world-wide scientific;
revolution of the 20th century has up- '�
set the ordered way of life followed
by the Chinese for centuries, and has.
thrown into discard the traditions and j
wisdom of the ancient masters. "The I
sway of the old religons, Buddhism
and Confucianism, has vanished like
snow before the sun." The missionary
is no longer met by a stubborn oppo-
(Continued on Page Three")
Dean Manning Points Out
Need for Political Courage
In chapel on Tuesday morning, No-
vember 1, Dean Manning outlined the
I prospects for this week's election and
! in particular pointed out the need for
[political courage, both among the peo-
ple and our political leaders.
Discarding the possiblities of the
ICUW of the present economic problem
, by political means, the Dean con-
j tinued by contrasting the essential
! differences between the major par-
ties. The protest vote, she declared,
is unconstructive; it is merely a vote
against the economic depression.
Political courage came to an un-
timely end after Roosevelt's death and
: Wilson's paralytic stroke. The public
j is likely to blame the politicians for
I this lack, but the politician reflects
j general popular sentiment. The dif-
ficulties of the Harding administra-
lion occurred only because no one in
the United States was forceful enough
: to obtain a statement from the White
House. There was no sufficiently ef-
fective political demand to extract
[ from either President Coolidge or
j President Hoover a statement con-
! cerning the oil scandals. Yet the
| American people continue to elect the
j Republican party to office. There is,
j it is true, no real unwillingness to
meet issues, but we need a real change
in the national state of mind.
(Continued on Page Three)
Political Speakers
Present Platforms
Delegations of Three Parties
Stage Political Rally to"]
Support Candidates
I n-------
ATTACK RIVAL PARTIES
Varsity Defeated 6-2
by Phila. Cricket Club
Yellows Held Scoreless During
1st Quarter, But Rapidly
Made 4 Goals
GAME WAS FAST
Varsity Players Present
The cast for Saint's Day, a one-act
play by Tom Prideaux, which the
Players will produce on Thursday,
November 17, is as follows:
Carlo ....... S. Jones, '34
Rosa ............... C. Schuab, 34
Elker ............... H. Nelson, 34
Barkosi ..........J. E. Hannan, '34
Lori ..................M. Coxe, '34
Sutro .............. .0. Jarrett, '34
The play will be directed by L.
Clews, '33. Maria Coxe, '34, will act
as stage manager. ���-�%�� *S**^
On Wednesday evening, November
2, at the political rally in Goodhart
auditorium, the representatives of the
three major political parties present-
ed the advantages of their respective
platforms. The Republican speaker,
. Mr. John R. Munn, outlined the stand
of his party on the major issue�the
tariff, and the maintenance of the'
money standard, and challenged the
Democratic platform. The Democrat-;
i ic representative. Mr. Fowler Harper,
took issue with the Republican policy,
particularly toward the tariff, toward
prohibition, and toward Hoover's eco-
nomic relief methods; he also upheld
the inherent intellectual honesty of
the Democratic party. Dr. Jesse
Holmes, representing the Socialist
party, declared that the campaign
should not concentrate on the immedi-
ate situation, and stressed the evils of
the capitalistic system. He appealed
to this new generation against a sys-
tem of industry based not on service,
but on profit.
� Dr. Munn, in speaking for the Re-
publicans, first commented upon the
idealism of the Socialists and the im-
possibility of their actual immediate
/nuccess, and then continued to discuss
the traditional issues-between the Dem-
ocrats and the Republicans. He faced
the Democratic proposal of a com-
petitive tariff for revenue and a re-
ciprocal tariff with other nations by
demonstrating their impracticability
so far as regulating rates against fluc-
i nation and at the same time stan-
dardizing'tHem. The protective tariff,
he said, is a necessary protection
against the exportable surplus of for-
eign countries. The Democratic ad-
vocacy of an international economic
conference to discuss tariff rates, he
declared, "Would only accentuate ill
will. The maintenance of the gold
standard and of the credit of the Unit-
ed States he stressed as being abso-
lutely essential for our economic sta-
bility. Mr. Munn concluded by citing
the noteworthy accomplishments of
the past administration: the estab-
lishment of the Moratorium, the Na-
tional Credit Corporation, the Recon-
struction Finance Corporation, the
Glass-Stiegel Bill, the Ecdnoniy Bill,
the Relief Bill, the Home Loan Bank
Bill.
(Continued on Par** F�tKlj^\ <
Although Bryn Mawr went d�wn
to defeat before the Philadelphia
Cricket Club Yellows by the score,
6-2, Varsity played the best game of
the 1032 season. Throughout the
game there was marked improvement,
not only in the passwork, but also in
smoothness and' unity. Interest in
the individual playing, which has been
characteristic of the Varsity for go
long, was lost in appreciation of the
team's work as a whole.
The forwards played unusually
well, getting two goals�a true feat
when Elliott is defending the cage.
The backfield far surpassed its us-
ual form and managed to hold Kitty
Wiener, the Yellows' star center for-
ward, to two goals. On the whole,
Bryn Mawr offered a creditable de-
fense to a far superior team, many of
whose members were either on the
All-Philadelphia team or the All-
American.
Varsity started the game olf well
by holding the Yellows scoreless (lur-
ing the first quarter. Encouraged by
the success of the backfield, the for-
wards rushed the circle, and Reming-
ton, much to Elliott's chagrin, man-
aged to get the ball into the cage.
The Yellows, however, soon settled
down to business and made four goals
in rapid succession.
In the second half, the playing be-
came more general, and, although the
forward line seemed to lose a bit of
its co-operation, the backs and goal
put up such a defense that only twice
did the ball gel past them. Reming-
ton made a beautiful goal after a
long run up the field and hard pass
by Stevenson. A last minute goal by
C. Kendig brought the score up to
ii-2, and the fastest and most excit-
ing game of the year had ended.
Stevenson at right wing played the
peediest and steadiest game of the
day. She far outstripped her half,
and her passes were quick and accur-
ate. Remington's hard shooting re-
sulted in Varsity's only goals and she
more than compensated for her in-
effectiveness in last week's game.
Longacre still uses her weak chop
strokes in attempting goals, and rare-
ly makes an effort to follow up her
mistakes, but her main difficulty in
Saturday's game was in hitting the
hall. Collier's offensive, as well as her
defensive, game deserves much praise.'
Her stickwork is rapidly improving
and her passes are hard and accurate.
Kent, Van Vechten and Bowditch
were a formidable trio on the defense,
while Jackson, especially in the sec-
ond half, played better than ever be-
fore. Several of the goals made by
the Philadelphia team were the re-
sults of interference with Jackson by
members of the Varsity forward line.
The Philadelphia Cricket Club Yel-
lows are famous for their clever pass-
work, brilliant offense and stolid de-
"V (Continued on I'aue Three)
New Book Room
Among the newest arrivals in the
New Book Room in the Library are
the following volumes. The first six
(ire especially recommended in the line
of fiction and familiar essays: >
The F/v"M#"�'" *�� � i i"T i Mn'Tjji
Sons........... Buck
Obscure Destinies Cather
Worshipful Society . Galsworthy
Second Com moil Reader Woolf
l,c carle di famille Maurois
Death in the Afternoon Hemingway
Bloody Year* Yeats-Brown
Burning Bush ..... I'mlset
Rueful Mating Stern
Sir Walter Scott........... Buchan
Beyond Desire , Sherwood Anderson
Voltaire Maurois
Scientist Among the Soviets Huxley
Modern Hero Bromfield
New Deal Chase
Past Recaptured Proust
�L atre and Friendship ^, v^"

J
The College News
VOL. XIX, No. 4
BRYN MAWR AND WAYNE, PA., WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER, 1932
PRICE 10 CENTS
Folk Songs Grow From
Communal Authorship
Pr. � Vaughan Williams Says
Oral Changes Improve
Folk Music
SINGERS WERE ARTISTS
Dr. Ralph VaUghan Williams gave
his third Flexner lecture in Goodhart
Hall) Thursday evening, November 11.
Describing folk music as an "individ-
ual (lowering on a common stem,"
he discussed the communal author-
ship of folk song and its appeal for
modern listeners.
Before taking up any new topics,
Dr. Williams clarified his remarks of
the previous week on the origin of
music, and explained that he was
^Bot attempting to advance any theo-
tles on this difficult subject. Although
refusing to trace the origin of music
to excited speech, he described the
raw material of song as the independ-
ent tones of the speaking voice merg-
ing into definite sounds.
The most important of the limita-
tions naturally inherent in folk mu-
sic, he then declared, is the fact that
orignally it was never committed to
writing, but handed down orally from
generation to generation. Alterations
of written works are apt to cause
careless mistakes, but oral changes are
likely to be improvements. Hence folk
songs went through a process of evo-
lution from generation to generation.
And so we have the theory of com-
munal authorship.
The evolution of folk songs is a pro-
cess not of disintegration and cor-
ruption, but of growth and develop-
ment. Art music is the work of an
individual, composed in a compara-
tively short period, committed to pa-
per, and so fixed. Folk songs, on the
� other hand, are products of the race,
and reflect feelings and tastes which
are communal rather than personal.
The idea of communal authorship
is not a new one. The philologist
Grimm remarked that "Folk song
composes itself." Cecil Sharpe, how-
ever, was the first to take a fully
thought-out stand upon the subject.
According to him, one man might in-
vent a song by piecing together odd
phrases, but the constant changes
made in the process of passing it on
from one singer to another would
transfer the authorship to the com-
munity. Every ballad singer was an
artist, free to change what he dis-
liked. Although some had alterations
made, by natural selection, only those
changes would survive oral repetition,
which made the tune more .vital.
This gradual oral improvement of folk
song is similar to the evolution of a
theme in the mind of a great com-
poser. In Beethoven's notebooks it is
possible to trace his themes from their
inchoate beginnings to their final
masterly form. But even the most
individualistic of composers must
learn frOm his predecessors, and prof-
it by their experience. Hence, in a
sense, even art music shows communal
authorship.
Folk songs today have more than
a mere antiquarian interest for music
lovers. Having been recorded by col-
lectors, they are no longer in a state
of flux, and the exclusive property of
I he peasantry, but have become an in-
tegral part of composed music. They
are not dead, but in a newjjiage of
development. Twenty years ago, the
great folk song revival initiated in
England by Cecil Sharpe gave to the
public a wealth of new melody which
aroused an immediate enthusiasm.
For the many average people who are
dissatisfied with banalities and yet do
not care for classical music, the popu-
larity of folk song affords an oppor-
tunity to bring music into the home
again, as in Elizabethan times.
Although it is natural for men to
express themselves by music, English
speaking peoples, not realizing that
culture must grow out of the soil in
which it is planted, are inclined to
stifle their own artistic impulses.
America, for instance, has all the
means for developing an interesting
fc. ^S*' ..
The F/v"M#"�'" *�� � i i"T i Mn'Tjji
Sons........... Buck
Obscure Destinies Cather
Worshipful Society . Galsworthy
Second Com moil Reader Woolf
l,c carle di famille Maurois
Death in the Afternoon Hemingway
Bloody Year* Yeats-Brown
Burning Bush ..... I'mlset
Rueful Mating Stern
Sir Walter Scott........... Buchan
Beyond Desire , Sherwood Anderson
Voltaire Maurois
Scientist Among the Soviets Huxley
Modern Hero Bromfield
New Deal Chase
Past Recaptured Proust
�L atre and Friendship ^, v^"